EP0051931B1

EP0051931B1 - Curtainsided vehicles

Info

Publication number: EP0051931B1
Application number: EP81304855A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Edward Gerald Broadbent
Original assignee: BOALLOY Ltd
Current assignee: BOALLOY Ltd
Priority date: 1980-10-24
Filing date: 1981-10-19
Publication date: 1985-09-18
Also published as: US4408793A; DE3172357D1; EP0051931A1

Description

This invention relates to curtainsided vehicles.
Generally, a curtainsided vehicle comprises a load-carrying body defined by a cargo-supporting bed or floor and a roof supported above the bed by pillars with at least one, and preferably both, of the lateral sides of the body being closable by curtains withdrawable to an end of the body to give access for cargo loading and discharge. Examples of such vehicles are disclosed in our British patent Specifications Nos. 81,262,879, 81,262,880, 1,542,811 and 1,542,812.
It is customary to load and unload such vehicles from the sides, the curtains which normally close the sides being drawn to one end of the vehicle body for this purpose. Some curtainsided vehicles additionally make provision for rear loading and unloading, the back of the vehicle body also being open and generally closed by a withdrawable curtain. It has been found that the supporting pillars tend to impede loading or unloading whether same is being effected from the side or the rear of the vehicle. For example, it has been found that, when it is desired to load from the open back of the vehicle, due, for example, to the presence of a load-receiving roller conveyor extending the length of the vehicle bed, the spacing between opposed supporting pillars between the roof and bed of the vehicle is insufficient and the pillars consequently tend to impede easy loading of the vehicle.
One solution to this problem is disclosed in DE-U-7118292 in which there is described an open-sided vehicle body closable by lower bottom-pivoted walls and an upper tarpaulin (or curtain). The open side is defined by a bed or floor and a roof supported above the floor by front and rear corner pillars or posts. Additional to these pillars or posts is an intermediate pillar or post which is pivotally connected at its upper end to the roof for swinging movement about a horizontal axis between a position where it extends 'vertically between the bed and roof and a position where it lies horizontally alongside the roof. The intermediate pillar or post at its bottom end has a slidable locking bolt releasably engageable in one of a pair of U-shaped brackets, one disposed at the bed and the other at the roof.
When it is desired to load or unload the vehicle the lower side walls are lowered, the tarpaulin is raised or removed, and the intermediate post is moved from its vertical disposition to its horizontal disposition where it is releasably retained during loading and unloading.
The present invention presents an alternative solution to this problem of pillars between the floor and roof of a curtainsided vehicle impeding loading or unloading of the latter but which avoids the necessity and inconvenience of disengaging one end of the pillar and having to climb onto the vehicle to secure it releasably alongside the vehicle roof, and vice versa.
With regard to the prior art according to DE-U-7118292 which already discloses a curtainsided vehicle comprising a body including a bed (20), a roof (21), and at least one pillar (22, 23) extending between the bed (20) and the roof (21) and being pivotally mounted for movement relative to the bed (20) and the roof (21), releasable locking means (36, 37) being provided to resist such pivotal movement of the pillar (22, 23), the vehicle according to the present invention is characterised in that the pillar (22, 23) has at its top a support arm or plate (24) and at its bottom a support arm or plate (30), both arms or plates (24, $0) extending at right angles to the pillar (22, 23) and being pivoted respectively to the roof (21) and bed (20) at coincident vertical axes (25, 31) to permit horizontal pivotal movement of the pillar (22, 23) between a travelling position adjacent to the bed (20) and roof (21) through 90° to a loading or unloading position outboard of the bed (20) and roof (21).
Preferably, the vehicle has, at its rear, a pair of supporting pillars, one at each side of the vehicle bed, both of the pillars being movable outboard as aforesaid.
Preferably, if the vehicle is sufficiently long to warrant intermediate supporting pillars between roof and bed, these intermediate pillars are also movable outboard as aforesaid.
Each pillar is preferably hollow and mounts top and bottom guided shoot bolts engageable in fixed guides on the vehicle structure, the shoot bolts being connected by a linkage mechanism operated by a lever handle exposed at an opening in the pillar wall.
Preferably, the linkage mechanism is such that the top shoot bolt releases before the bottom shoot bolt, while, upon locking, the sequence is reversed.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a curtainsided vehicle according to the invention with the curtains removed;
Figs. 1A and 1B are detail views of the top and bottom mountings of a rear pillar;
Figs. 1C, 1D and 1E are detail views of the top and bottom mountings of an intermediate pillar. Fig. 1E being a section of the line 1E-1E of Fig. 1D;
Figs. 2 and 3 are fragmentary perspective views of the bottom rear pillar mounting, Fig. 3 showing releasing of the pillar;
Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the shoot bolt mechanism employed with the various pillars;
Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a rear pillar partially moved outboard;
Figs. 6 and 7 are fragmentary side views of an intermediate pillar in inboard and outboard positions respectively; and
Fig. 8 is a rear view of the vehicle with all pillars moved outboard.

The vehicle, in this instance, has two side-by- side, load-handling roller conveyors A and B (Fig. 8) extending the length of the vehicle bed 20 and necessitating rear loading.
The vehicle has, supporting the roof 21 above the bed 20, two rear pillars 22 and two intermediate pillars 23.
Reference is made to one of the rear pillars 22 (both rear pillars are identical).
The rear pillar 22 is of hollow rectangular section and at its top has an integral lateral arm pivoted as indicated at 25 to a bracket 26 welded to a top rail 27 of the vehicle structure. The arm 24 has a guide eye 28 secured thereto which is aligned with a guide eye 29 on the bracket 26 when the pillar 22 is in normal inboard position.
The pillar 22 at its bottom has fast therewith a lateral plate 30 pivoted as indicated at 31 to a bracket 32 welded to chassis structure 33 of the vehicle. The plate 30 has a guide 34 and the bracket 32 has at its bottom a hollow lug 35.
A locking mechanism is provided to immobilise the pillar 22 relative to brackets 26 and 32 and hold it in its normal inboard position.
This mechanism comprises a top shoot bolt 36 (see particularly Fig. 4) and a bottom shoot bolt 37 both operated by a linkage including a handle 38 exposed at an opening 39 in a side wall of the pillar 22. Top shoot bolt 36 is pivotally connected by a link 39 to the handle 38 intermediate its ends, and the bottom shoot bolt 37 is pivotally connected by a link 40 to the handle 38 between the link 39 and handle 38.
When the pillar 22 is in normal inboard position, top shoot bolt 36 engages in both guide eyes 28 and 29, bottom shoot bolt 37 engages in the lug 35 and the handle 38 lies within the pillar 22.
To move the pillar 22 outboard, the operator grasps the handle 28 and pulls it outwards and downwards (Figs. 3 and 4) which first pulls top shoot bolt 36 downwards clear of guide eye 29. Continued pulling on the handle 29 pulls bottom shoot bolt 37 upwards out of the lug 35 and the operator can then swing the pillar 22 outboard of the vehicle bed 20 thus increasing the loading width of the vehicle.
When the vehicle is loaded, the operator swings pillar 22 inboard and pivots the handle 28 upwardly firstly to engage bottom shoot bolt 37 and then top shoot bolt 36.
The structure of the intermediate pillar 23 is substantially the same as that of the rear pillar 22 and like parts are given the same references with the suffix "A". However, some detail differences should be noted. At the top, the intermediate pillar 23 is cranked as indicated at 41 (Fig. 1 E) and this necessitates cranking of the top shoot bolt 36A.
At the bottom, bracket 32 and lug 35 are omitted and the plate 30 is replaced by an arm 42 which normally lies within a recess 43 of the chassis 33, a hole 44 being provided to receive the bottom shoot bolt 37A.
Fig. 8 clearly shows the increased loading width which the present invention provides for rear loading of a curtainsided vehicle. The latter expression includes herein and in the claims vans, trucks, railway vehicles and containers which can be carried on vehicles.
It is envisaged that the rear pillars may be fixed with only the intermediate pillars being movable outboard of the vehicle bed.
It is also envisaged that only one rear pillar and/ or one intermediate pillar may be movable outboard of the vehicle bed.

Claims

1. A curtainsided vehicle comprising a body including a bed (20), a roof (21), and at least one pillar (22, 23) extending between the bed (20) and the roof (21) and being pivotally mounted for movement relative to the bed (20) and the roof (21), releasable locking means (36, 37) being provided to resist such pivotal movement of the pillar (22,23), the vehicle being characterised in that the pillar (22, 23) has at its top a support arm or plate (24) and at its bottom a support arm or plate (30), both arms or plates (24, 30) extending at right angles to the pillar (22, 23) and being pivoted respectively to the roof (21) and bed (20) at coincident vertical axes (25, 31) to permit horizontal pivotal movement of the pillar (22, 23) between a travelling position adjacent to the bed (20) and roof (21) through 90° to a loading or unloading position outboard of the bed (20) and roof (21).

2. A vehicle as claimed in claim 1 comprising, at its rear, a pair of pillars (22) one at each side of the vehicle bed (20) and at least one of which is movable outboard of the vehicle bed (20).

3. A vehicle as claimed in claim 1 or 2, comprising intermediate pillars (23) between the rear pillars (22) and the front of the vehicle, at least one of which intermediate pillars (23) is also pivotal about coincident vertical axes (25A, 31A1) outboard of the vehicle bed (20) and roof (21).

4. A vehicle as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the or each pillar (22, 23) is hollow and mounts top and bottom guided shoot bolts (36, 37) engageable in fixed guides (28, 29 and 35) on the vehicle structure, the shoot bolts (36, 37) being connected by a linkage mechanism (39, 40) operated by a lever handle (38) exposed at an opening in the pillar wall.

5. A vehicle as claimed in claim 4, in which the linkage mechanism (39, 40) is such that the top shoot bolt (36) releases before the bottom shoot bolt (37) while, upon locking, the sequence is reversed.